Wolfgang Puck

Infobox Chef
name = Wolfgang Puck


caption = Wolfgang Puck's Pizza, Pasta and More Cookbook
birthdate = birth date and age|1949|7|8
birthplace = Sankt Veit an der Glan, Austria
deathdate =
deathplace =
style = California, French, and Fusion
education = Apprenticeship
restaurants = Spago Beverly Hills; Spago Las Vegas; Spago Maui; Cut and sideBar (Beverly Hills); Vert (Hollywood); Chinois (Santa Monica, CA and Las Vegas); Postrio (San Francisco and Las Vegas); Trattoria del Lupo (Las Vegas); Wolfgang Puck Bar & Grill (Las Vegas); Wolfgang Puck American Grille (Atlantic City); Wolfgang Puck Grille (Detroit); 20.21 (Minneapolis); The Source (Washington, DC); Spago Bachelor Gulch, CO; CUT Las Vegas; Wolfgang Puck Express (numerous)
television = "Iron Chef America", "Las Vegas", "Frasier"; Food Network; "Good Morning America"

Wolfgang Johann Puck (born Wolfgang Johann Topfschnig on July 8, 1949) is an Austrian celebrity chef, restaurateur, and businessman based in Los Angeles. Wolfgang Puck restaurants, catering services, cookbooks and licensed products are run by Wolfgang Puck Companies, with three divisions.

Biography

He was born to Maria Topfschnig and a butcher who abandoned her before their child's birth. Maria married Josef Puck in 1956, who adopted Wolfgang. The marriage produced another son and two daughters.

Puck learned cooking from his mother, who sometimes worked as a pastry chef. He trained as an apprentice under Raymond Thuilier at L'Oustau de Baumaniere in Provence, at Hotel de Paris in Monaco, and at Maxim's Paris before moving to the United States in 1973 at age 24. After two years at La Tour in Indianapolis, Puck moved to Los Angeles to become chef and part owner at Ma Maison restaurant.

Following the 1981 publication of his first cookbook, "Modern French Cooking for the American Kitchen" based on his Ma Maison recipes, Puck opened the restaurant Spago on the Sunset Strip in 1982. His success enabled him to launch the Wolfgang Puck Companies which includes the Wolfgang Puck Fine Dining Group, Wolfgang Puck Worldwide, Inc. and Wolfgang Puck Catering. The Wolfgang Puck Companies encompass 15 fine dining restaurants, premium catering services, more than 80 Wolfgang Puck Express operations, and kitchen and food merchandise, including cookbooks and canned foods. He is the official caterer for the Academy Awards Governors Ball, and has parlayed his celebrity into acting; his credits include "Frasier", a recurring role as himself on "Las Vegas" and a cameo appearance on "The Weather Man". He also appeared as himself on "", as well as "Cooking Class with Wolfgang Puck" on The Food Network, and in an "American Idol" season finale episode where he introduced unusual foods to Kellie Pickler in comic relief segments. He also made a cameo appearance as himself on an episode of "Tales from the Crypt", and appeared in a TV commercial advertising California (along with famous people such as Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jack Nicholson).

Puck is active in philanthropic endeavors and charitable organizations, co-founding the Puck-Lazaroff Charitable Foundation in 1982. The foundation supports the annual American Wine & Food Festival which benefits Meals on Wheels and has raised more than $15 million since its inception.

Puck is The Honorary Chair Chef for the "Five Star Sensation" Benefit in Cleveland, Ohio every two years helping to bring $10 Million Dollars to support The Ireland Cancer Foundation of University Hospitals. http://www.uhhospitals.org/irelandcancer/tabid/2314/Default.aspx

Puck has two sons, Cameron and Byron, with business partner and former wife, Barbara Lazaroff, and two other sons, Oliver Wolfgang (born July 17, 2005) and Alexander Wolfgang (born December 20, 2006) by his Ethiopian-born second wife, handbag designer Gelila Assefa. On July 7, 2007, Puck married Assefa on the Italian island of Capri.

His company's trademarked motto is "Live Love Eat".

Controversy

From 2002 to 2007 Puck was heavily criticized for his support of the veal and foie gras industries, but on March 22, 2007 he announced he would stop selling foie gras and crated veal, and that he was only going to use eggs and meat from animals raised under strict humane care standards. [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/22/dining/22puck.html?_r=1&oref=slogin] These changes have been praised by the Humane Society of the United States. [http://www.hsus.org/farm/news/ournews/wolfgang_puck_animal_welfare.html]

Awards

Spago Beverly Hills was named to the [http://www.gayot.com/restaurantpages/LosAngelesAreaInfo.php?tag=LARES00494-01&code=LA Gayot Top 40 Restaurants in the U.S.] in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007. It also received a [http://jamesbeard.org James Beard Foundation Outstanding Service Award] in 2005. In November 2007 it was awarded 2 Michelin Stars in the 2008 Los Angeles Michelin Guide.

In 1993, Spago Hollywood was inducted into the [http://www.nrn.com/HallOfFame.aspx?menu_id=1518 Nation's Restaurant News Fine Dining Hall of Fame] . The next year it received the James Beard Restaurant of the Year Award.

In 2002 Puck received the 2001-2002 Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Service Show, "Wolfgang Puck".

References

* [http://www.wolfgangpuck.com/company/bio.php?id=11 "Wolfgang Puck: Biography"] ; WolfgangPuck.com (2005); retrieved January 30, 2006
* [http://www.gayot.com/restaurantpages/LosAngelesAreaInfo.php?tag=LARES00494-01&code=LA "Spago restaurant review"] ; Gayot.com (2007); retrieved Spetember 26, 2008
* [http://www.wolfgangpuck.com/restaurants/finedining/spago/beverlyhills/index.php "Wolfgang Puck Fine Dining Group-Spago"] retrieved September 26, 2008
* [http://www.thefoodpaper.com/interviews/wolfgangpuck.html "Wolfgang Puck Answers 10 Questions"]
* [http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0903381.html "2001-2002 Daytime Emmy Awards"]

External links

* [http://www.wolfgangpuck.com Official Website]
*